What Does Proverbs 7:18 Mean in the King James?
Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew makes this an invitation to drink oneself full, while its own promise expires at morning.
THE MEANING
The invitation makes desire sound like abundance and relief: fullness now, shared pleasure through the night. Yet its own horizon is morning, so the solace it promises is satiation with an ending built into it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A feeling of fullness is not proof of lasting fulfillment; the offer itself limits its consolation to one night.
THE ROOT
נִרְוֶה
nirveh
GROWS FROM
רוה
r-w-h
To drink one’s fill, be saturated, or be watered.
“take our fill” in this verse is nirveh. The verb literally evokes drinking to fullness, so desire is presented as something that can saturate. The same root can describe a watered garden or an overflowing cup, while this invitation confines its promised fullness to the night.
ALSO GROWS
ravēh: Watered or saturated, as in a watered garden.
רָוֶה
Isaiah 58:11 uses this form for a garden sustained by water, widening the image beyond a single moment of appetite.
revayah: Abundance or overflowing fullness.
רְוָיָה
In Psalm 23:5 it describes the cup that runs over, another image of being filled to abundance.
דֹּדִים
dodim
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved affection, including caresses or sensual expressions of love.
The first word for love is dōdîm, which can name caresses or expressions of sensual affection. The line gives desire a bodily register before turning to its broader language of love.
ALSO GROWS
dōd: Beloved or lover.
דּוֹד
Song of Songs 5:16 calls the beloved dōd, showing the intimate affection contained in the word family.
dōdîm: Caresses or expressions of love.
דֹּדִים
Song of Songs 1:2 uses this form for love more desirable than wine, echoing the sensual promise in this verse.
בָּאֳהָבִים
ba'ohavim
GROWS FROM
אהב
ʾ-h-b
To love or have affection for.
“loves” in this verse is ba'ohavim. This second term comes from the broad root for love and affection, layering that language over the sensual dōdîm. The invitation makes appetite sound like love’s fullness.
ALSO GROWS
ʾahav: To love.
אָהַב
Deuteronomy 6:5 uses this verb for loving the LORD with all the heart, soul, and might.
ahavah: Love or affection.
אַהֲבָה
Song of Songs 8:7 says many waters cannot quench this love, showing the root’s wider range of attachment.
THE PATTERN
Temptation makes desired fulfillment feel abundant while hiding the cost or limit built into its promise.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.THE THREAD
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.Both verses use רוה (ravah), the root of saturation: Proverbs offers it as a night of desire ending at morning, while Isaiah pictures a garden continually watered. The shared root opens the image from brief filling to sustained nourishment.
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